Site Changes

When I first started my blog I thought I should have separate pages for various ideas so I create a separate blog for each of my interests. It has been very exhausting trying to keep up with 5 or so blogs, so I have decided to combine everything into my main blog page. I am moving everything over with links to the various pages in my blog to help keep it separate. I'm hoping this will keep my OCD in check. Please go to my home page to find all of the recipes that I have posted thus far.

Hawaiian Haystacks

The first time I ever had Hawaiian Haystacks was when I was a teenager. I was at Girl's camp and Oh My Goodness!!!! They were the best things ever! Who would have thought putting sweet things like pineapple and coconut in the same dish with cheese, chicken, and rice would be a good combination? Certainly not me. But by adding all the foods that I love, the dish that I accidently started with a plate full of rice ended up over flowing with yummy deliciousness! If there is one downfall to Hawaiian Haystacks this would be it, by adding a bunch on top the plate gets full REALLY fast. LOL. Enjoy, I know I did!

Hawaiian Haystacks

Ingredients;

2 cans cream of chicken soup          1/2 cup chicken broth

3 cups cooked, chopped chicken        1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 cup sour cream                      4 cups cooked rice

1 cup milk                            1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 can chow mein noodles               1/2 cup coconut

3 medium tomatoes, diced              1 cup chopped celery

1 can pineapple chunks

Combine soup, chicken broth, chicken, sour cream, and milk in a medium 

saucepan to make sauce.  Stir to blend.  Simmer about 8 to 10 minutes, 

until heated through.  Serve sauce over rice, and top with whatever 

toppings your family likes.

Taco Pizza

A while back I found a website called Recipe.com. This website is pretty nifty. It has connections to the grocery stores in your area (just input your zipcode) and it will tell you what is on sale this week. It also has recipes on the site and will tell you which items are on sale and where so you can get the best deals. I came across this recipe for taco pizza and fell in love. It's one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

Total Weight Watchers Points Plus: 7 per serving
Serving size: 1/8th
Prep time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  Nonstick cooking spray

· 1 1-pound loaf frozen whole wheat bread dough, thawed

· 12 ounces lean ground beef

· 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)

· 1/2 cup bottled salsa

· 1-1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (2 medium)

· 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 ounces)

· 1/2 to 1 cup shredded lettuce and/or spinach

· 1 cup baked tortilla chips, coarsely crushed

· Light dairy sour cream and/or bottled salsa (optional)

Directions

Lightly coat a 12- to 13-inch pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pat dough evenly into prepared pan, building up edges slightly. (If dough is hard to pat out, allow to rest for 10 minutes.) Prick crust all over with a fork. Bake in a 425 degrees oven for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook the ground beef and onion until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat. Stir in the 2/3 cup salsa. Top partially baked crust with meat mixture. Bake for 5 minutes more. Sprinkle with tomatoes and cheese. Bake for 2 to 3 minutes more or until cheese melts.

To serve, top with lettuce and tortilla chips. If desired, serve with sour cream and/or additional salsa.

Chicken Parmesan

I've mentioned before that I have found wonderful recipes on the Slimfast website. The Chicken Parmesan has been one of my favorite recipes, but it's a little tricky. One tip I've learned is that the pan needs to be relative to the amount of servings. The recipe is set up as a single serving so my small cast iron pan would work perfectly. If the pan is too big, the chicken is going to stick and it's not going to turn out right. Been there, done that. And now, the star of the show:

Chicken Parmesan

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

·  1 garlic clove

·  1/2 onion, yellow, whole

·  1 teaspoon oil, canola

·  4 ounces chicken breasts, boneless/skinless, raw

·  1 ounce milk, fat free

·  2 tablespoons cheese, parmesan, regular

·  1/4 cup spaghetti sauce, reduced sodium

·  1/8 teaspoon black pepper

·  2 ounces pasta, linguini, uncooked

·  1/4 pound spinach, raw bunch or bagged

·  1/2 tomato, whole, fresh

·  2 ounces dressing, Italian lo cal low sodium

Preparation

·  Peel and mince garlic; place in a non-stick skillet.

·  Chop onion and add to skillet.

·  Add oil to skillet and saute garlic and onions for about 3 - 4 minutes over medium heat.

·  While garlic and onions cook, dip chicken into milk and then coat with parmesan cheese.

·  Brown both sides of chicken in skillet; about 3 minutes per side.

·  Decrease heat to low and add spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and black pepper.

·  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

·  While chicken is cooking, prepare pasta according to directions and salad.

·  Wash spinach, tear into bite size pieces and place in a large salad plate.

·  Wash and slice tomato and add to salad.

·  Drizzle salad with dressing before serving.

·  Serve chicken with pasta and salad.

Nutrition Information Amount Per Serving Calories 660 Calories from Fat 180 Total Fat 21g Saturated Fat 5g Cholesterol 75mg Sodium 440mg Total Carbohydrate 74g Dietary Fiber 9g Sugars 10g Protein 44g Vitamin A 180% Vitamin C 90% Calcium 40% Iron 40%

The Best Breakfast Ever!

I've always thought that when I went on a diet I had to deprive myself of all the yummy foods because they weren't good for you or too many calories. What I didn't know is that you can have food just as yummy that is much more healthy for you, like for instance my breakfast this morning.

Now doesn't that just look scrumptious? Here's the lowdown on this yummy meal:

2 eggo nutrigrain low fat waffles topped with 1 cup of strawberries mixed with 1 TBSP of strawberry glaze just to kind of hold everything together. On top is 2 squirts of reddi wip. On the side is 2 "fried" eggs, no extra salt. my philosophy is this: If this is what I get to eat the rest of my life, then I will happily be on a "diet". The total weight watchers points for this breakfast is 9

Orange Chicken

Orange Chicken has always been a favorite favorite (well once I took the plunge and actually tried it that is. lol). Both of my children really enjoy eating it, and in my book, that's always a winner. My favorite place to eat orange chicken is at Panda Express. Unfortunately, the nearest Panda is way too far away to enjoy on a regular basis. So, what do you do, when you live in the "sticks"? You buy it at the grocery store. Yup, that's right, they sell Orange Chicken at the grocery store. Now, you gotta be careful on which one you buy because not all Orange Chicken's are alike. For example. The first store bought Orange chicken I found was in the boxed meal's section at Walmart. It's by a company called Wanchai Ferry. I have to say, this is REALLY good. The sauce is scrumptious. The chicken is lightly coated with a cornstarch mixture, and all in all, I give it 5 stars for flavor and taste. Now, the down side is, you gotta do work to eat it. You have to cut up the chicken and coat it, cook it... etc. you get the idea. it's not a meal that you can make in 30 minutes. It does take preparation.  Now if you buy your chicken from like Safeway, or Bashas' or another such supermarket, the butcher will cut up the chicken for you, so that's not. If you shop only at Walmart, well you're going to have to do the work yourself. Now the directions are simple to follow and if you have plenty of time, it's not that hard of a recipe to make. Nutrition wise, 1 serving (1 cup prepared) is 350 calories, fat 8g, carbs 48g, fiber <1g, Protein 3g. If you are doing weight watchers that ends up being 3 points. Not too shabby for dinner. Oh, and 1 final tip: The directions say to cut up 1lb of chicken. Yeah, that doesn't actually make much, so I usually do like 1.5-2lbs of chicken. The rice that comes with it is most definately not enough to feed even a family of 4, so I usually make my own. I have a wonderful microwave rice cooker (I highly recommend!)

Now the next Orange Chicken I've purchased I also bought at Walmart. This one was in the freezer section with the other meals. It was a Great Value package. I was very excited about this one because my sister bought some at Costco that is extremely good. So at $6.00 for a bag (suppose to feed 4) I went ahead and tried it out. I have to say, epic fail. It wasn't "bad" per se, but wasn't great. the orange sauce was ok alone, but not so good on the actual chicken. On flavor and taste, I give it 2 stars. On ease of cooking, it was most definately 5 stars. I put my rice in my cooker (18 minutes). Then I started the chicken. While working on the chicken, I washed some dishes, helped my kids with computer issues, and well, other family and personal issues. The chicken with sauce and everything was actually completed 2 minutes before the rice finished. so in less than 20 minutes, the meal was done. Now if Walmart could just get the taste down... PERFECT!

So, that's my take on Orange Chicken. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. I'd love to try them!